CINCINNATI - Looking to fortify a bullpen that has blown more than a third of its save chances, the Washington Nationals acquired relievers Ryan Madson and Sean Doolittle from the Oakland Athletics for righthander Blake Treinen and a pair of prospects: lefthander Jesus Luzardo and infielder Sheldon Neuse.

A 36-year-old righthander, Madson has a 2.06 ERA and is seventh among relievers in hits plus walks per inning at 0.79.

He has not allowed any of the seven inherited runners to score in his past 13 appearances and has held opponents to a .188 batting average.

Doolittle is a 30-year-old lefthander who has held lefthanded batters hitless in 23 at-bats this year with 12 strikeouts and no walks. He is 1-0 with three saves, a 3.38 ERA and 31 strikeouts in 211⁄3 innings.

"We got two quality human beings who are great teammates," Washington general manager Mike Rizzo said. "They can pitch at the end of games and get three outs. We can stabilize our entire bullpen."

Rizzo said he wasn't sure when Madson and Doolittle would be joining the Nationals.

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Red Sox manager John Farrell said Boston will move forward with a formal protest over the lack of an interference call in Saturday's 4-1, 16-inning loss to the New York Yankees.

Matt Holliday walked leading off the 11th and Jacoby Ellsbury followed with a grounder to first baseman Mitch Moreland, who threw to second for a forceout. Holliday retreated toward first and slid into the bag as shortstop Xander Bogaerts' throw arrived.

Moreland wasn't able to reach the ball, which hit Ellsbury and bounced into foul territory. Farrell argued for an interference call, but umpires allowed Ellsbury to stay on first.

"We still firmly believe there was interference on the play and, if it goes unaddressed or without any further attention brought to it, who's to say you can't instruct runners to do the same going forward?" Farrell said Sunday.

Holliday said he was unaware Moreland did not touch first before throwing to second.